Pregnant and parenting youth (PPY) in the Tulsa area are faced with many dividing factors that educators would expect for this community. PPY often live in families that receive government assistance benefits and are often children of parents with lower levels of education (Mickler & Tollestrup, 2024). Oklahoma State Department of Health data show that PPY are disproportionately members of minority groups (2024). Data show that only 51% of teen mothers go on to earn a high school diploma as compared to 90% of their counterparts (Mickler & Tollestrup, 2024). Each of these factors contributes to the digital inequities that PPY in the Tulsa area face. Minority groups are often distrustful of digital technologies and may be unaware of “how technology can help raise one’s social position” (Darvin, 2019, p. 213). Most of the Strong Tomorrows students complete their education via an online school through Tulsa Public Schools. The curriculum used by the program relies heavily on passive learning situations where students focus on following directions and getting the right answer.
The COVID pandemic exacerbated this digital inequity as schools were confronted with both access and use concerns. In response to the access concerns, Tulsa Public Schools pursued partnerships with the T-Mobile 10 Million Program and Tulsa Responds to close the access gap. Strong Tomorrows students now all receive a computer as a part of the program and receive help via a case worker navigating the process to get internet access through the T-Mobile or Tulsa Responds programs as needed.
Closing the use gap is an ongoing struggle, though. Findings suggest that students with similar demographics to PPY, such as lower socioeconomic status, have lower Information Communication Technologies (ICT) skills than their peers (van de Werfhorst, Kessenich, & Geven 2022). Combined with a distrust of the technology, these students may be relegated to using technology to access social media, play video games, or stream content rather than using it to actively engage in self-directed, inquiry-based learning (Darvin, 2019, p. 220). Strong Tomorrow's partnership with Tulsa Virtual Schools is predicated on the belief that students who are pregnant and parenting need options for completing their education in an accelerated manner, providing time and space for caring for their children, working, and managing a household. This goal is important but may be in conflict with best practices for providing students intentional opportunities to develop digital literacy skills. This creates an opportunity gap because this already disadvantaged population is not engaging in sophisticated, intellectually rigorous activities designed to build their capacities to fully harness the power of technology (Darvin, 2019, p. 212). This stratification of digital experiences increases the divide between the haves and have nots and the cans and can nots.
References
Darvin, R. (2019). Youth, technology, and the hidden curriculum of the 21st century. Youth and Globalization, 1. 210-229.
Mickler, A. K., & Tollestrup, J. (2024, August 28). Teen birth trends: In brief (CRS Report No. R45184). Congressional Research Service. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R45184/R45184.7.pdf
Oklahoma State Department of Health. (2024). Child and adolescent health dashboard. Oklahoma State Department of Health.
https://oklahoma.gov/health/health-education/children---family-health/maternal-and-child-health-service/mch-data-portal/interactive-dashboards/child-and-adolescent-health-dashboard.html
Robin, I'm glad that you've highlighted an often underlooked section of students: expecting mothers. When I was in high school many years ago, there were a few girls who were expecting. Of those, some of them were sent to an expecting mothers private school in a neighboring district, while others were sent to the district's alternative school, due to, according to the school district, "the gen ed classroom isn't equipped for women who are expecting, so they need to be in a place that can better suit their needs". Mind you, this is the same alternative school that we were sending students with severe behavioral problems, students who had committed violent acts at school, etc. The inequity gap between those two was astounding to me, even then, when the idea of the Digital Divide didn't really exist.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon, Robin! Thank you for sharing. Your post clearly illustrates how intersecting factors such as socioeconomic status, race, educational attainment, and parenting responsibilities compound digital inequities for pregnant and parenting youth (PPY) in Tulsa (Mickler & Tollestrup, 2024; Oklahoma State Department of Health [OSDH], 2024). I appreciate how you differentiate between closing the access gap and the more persistent use gap, particularly by explaining how the accelerated, online instructional model can unintentionally limit students’ opportunities to engage in higher-order, self-directed learning with technology. The examples of device distribution, internet access partnerships, and case worker support effectively demonstrate that access initiatives, while necessary, are insufficient on their own to ensure equitable digital learning experiences.
ReplyDeleteYour connection to Darvin’s (2019) concept of the “hidden curriculum” is especially effective in showing how reliance on passive learning structures may reinforce existing inequities in digital skill development. By drawing on research showing that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds tend to have lower ICT skill levels (van de Werfhorst et al., 2022), you highlight how PPY may be positioned primarily as consumers of digital content rather than as active users who create, analyze, and problem-solve with technology. This tension between providing flexible pathways to graduation and intentionally fostering digital literacy underscores a critical challenge for educators and policymakers who aim to support PPY not only in completing school, but also in developing the long-term capacities needed for social mobility and meaningful participation in a digital society (Darvin, 2019).
Darvin, R. (2019). Youth, technology, and the hidden curriculum of the 21st century. Youth and Globalization, 1(2), 210–229. https://doi.org/10.1163/25895745-00102006
Mickler, A. K., & Tollestrup, J. (2024, August 28). Teen birth trends: In brief (CRS Report No. R45184). Congressional Research Service. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R45184/R45184.7.pdf
Oklahoma State Department of Health. (2024). Child and adolescent health dashboard. https://oklahoma.gov/health/health-education/children---family-health/maternal-and-child-health-service/mch-data-portal/interactive-dashboards/child-and-adolescent-health-dashboard.html
van de Werfhorst, H. G., Kessenich, E., & Geven, S. (2022). The digital divide in online education: Inequality in digital readiness of students and schools. Computers & Education, 180, 104412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104412
Hello Robin,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you highlighting the current use gap in digital access faced by young pregnant and parenting women. While the work of Strong Tomorrow and Tulsa Virtual Schools is clearly impactful and necessary, I agree that more intentional digital skill development is needed to ensure these students are not left behind compared to peers who are actively building digital competencies for today’s automated workforce.